Locking structure for ladies&#39; handbags or the like



May 7, 1946. I

C. W. HARDY LOCKING STRUCTURE FOR LADIES HANDBAGS OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 18, 1945 i JNVENTOR. f- 5 ahzfiwd V j W Patented May 7, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOCKING STRUCTURE FOR LADIES HANDBAGS OR THELIKE Charles W. Hardy, Forest Hills, N. Y.,; assignor of one-twentieth to Richard; L. ,Mazarella, South Ozone Park. N. Y. l

Application January 18, 1945, Serial No. 573,333

9 Claims. (cr ase -22s) This invention relates to ladies handbags, compacts, cigarette cases,,and like devices and, more partlcularly, to improvements in looks and latches for such devices.

n pplied to a ladys handba the presen invention may be considered to comprise the usual hinged frame members, together with a locking structure superimposed upon said frame members and arranged to enable the frame members to be latched together'whenever the handbag is to be'closed and to be unlatched from each other whenever the handbag is to be opened. The lockingstructure may include, for example, two substantially linear wires of resilient material, such as piano wire, which are burred, serrated or threaded and mounted parallel to each other so that one-half of each of the wires is inserted in and held by a latch member while the other half of each wire is inserted in and held by one of the frame members. The other frame member supports an immovablefbolt or the like having its head exposed so as to be insertable into a cavity provided in the latch member when the handbag is to be closed. When pressure :is applied to the latch member so as to open the handbag, the pressure will bend the wiresout of alignment sufficiently so as to enable the head of the bolt to be removed from the cavity of the latch member and thereby allow the frame member supporting the bolt to be fully released.

This invention will be better understood from the more detailed description hereinafter following when read in connection with the accompanying drawing inwhich Figure 1 shows a front view of a handbag embodying the locking structure of the invention, the structure being shown in its locked position; Figure 2 shows an end view of the handbag structure of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a partial end view of the handbag struc ture in its open position; Figure 4 illustrates an enlarged sectional view of the locking structure in its open position, this view being taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1 Figure 5 represents a front view of the burred Wire or pin used in the invention; Figure 6 shows a top view of a lady's compact to which the. locking structure of thisinvention may also be applied; Figure 7 shows a section of the compact of Figure 6 taken along the line 1-1 of Figure 6, and Figure 8 shows an end view of the compact of Figure 6. In the drawing the same reference characters will be employed to designate the same parts throughout the various figures.

Referring to the drawing, the reference character Ill designates the body of a ladys handbag,

and the characters II and I 2 designate two frame members of the type usually embodied in such a handbag, the two frame members being hinged at I3. Ornamental trimming parts I5 and I6 are permanently fastened in any well known, manner to the hinged frame members II and I2, respectively. When the frame member I2 is moved about the hinge [3 so as to be displaced from the other frame member I I in order to openthe handbag as showmfor example, in Figure 3, the parts I5 and I6 will remain afllxed in their normal positions upon the frame members II and I2. In fact, the trimming parts I5 and I6 may be considered as components of the frame members I I and I2.

The locking structure of this invention is shown for illustrative purposes to comprise two substantially linear wires or pins designated 20 and 2I which are set parallel to each other asshown, for example, in Figure. 1. These wires or pins are partially embedded-fin the trimming part I5 and they are also partiallyembedded in the latch member 22. In the drawing about half of these wires or pins are embedded in the trimming part I5 and the other half in the latch member 22, but it will be understood that this is merely illustrative of the invention and such a mathematical relationship is not required to practice the invention. The latch member 22 is provided with a cavity or opening 23 which may be proportioned so as to receive the head of a bolt or screw, such as 24, which is embedded in the other trimming part It. Of course any protruding element carried by or embedded in the part It may be used in this invention, as will readily be understood. Each wire or pin such as 20, for example, is burredv at a plurality of points, such as those designated in Figure 5, these burrs serving to firmly hold the wire or pin 20 permanently in the trimming part I5 as well as in the latch member If unburred pins are used, they may be held in place in any well known manner by set screws, or the like, but burred pins are preferred because they simplify the construction, reduce the number of parts required to practice the invention and consequently diminish the cost of the materials used in the handbag. The wires or pins 20 and 2i are preferably made of a resilient material, such as piano wire, but any steel spring wire or beryllium copper or the like, which is knurled or serrated will readily sufiice to practice the invention.

By applying hand pressure to a point such as 3| of Figure 4, for example, the latch member '22- will be deflected with respect to the trimming members |5 and Hi. The pins 2|! and 2| will be bent somewhat as shown in Figure 4 so that the parts of the pins embedded in the latch member 22 will be out of alignment with the parts of the same pins embedded in the trimming member l5. The trimming member l6 may then be swung about the hinge l3 so as to remove the head of the bolt 24 from the cavity or opening 23 within the latch member 22. When the bag is opened in this manner, the pressure previously applied at 3| may be removed, thereby allowing the latch member 22 to return to its normal position as shown, for example, in Figure 3. The pins 20 and 2| will be restored immediately to their linear positions upon the release of the pressure at 3|. To close the handbag, it is merely necessary to push the trimming member l6 toward the other trimming member |5 until they are closely adjacent to each other as shown in Figure 2, for

example. The pin 20 (and pin 2|) Wi11 be defiected just enough so as to enable the head of the bolt 24 to be encased within the cavity 23 of the latch member ,22. .The handbag will now be fully closed. I

, The pins are shown to be. round in cross-section, but pins of any other cross-sectional shape, such as square, oval or rectangular maybe used if desired. Furthermore, the pins 20 and 2| need not be separate parts, but may be the sides of a U- shaped member, the body of which is encased or molded in the latch member 22. This modification will be readily apparent from the description already given.

aseaaee cover 4| may then be opened. A spring (not shown) may be employed to assist in releasing the cover 4| when the compact is to be opened. The pins 44 and 45 will be restored to their normal or linear positions immediately upon release of the pressure at 48. The cover 4| is shown in its open position by the dotted lines of Figure 7. By pressing the cover 4| downwardly, the head of the bolt 45 will move the latch member 43 sufiiciently to allow the cover 4| to become looked, as shown in Figure '7. I

While this invention has been shown and described in embodiments merely for illustrative purposes, it will be understood that the general principles of this invention may be applied to other and widely varied organizations without departing from the spirit of the invention and the The ornamental trimming parts l5 and I6 of the handbag as well as the latch member 22 are preferably made of a plastic material such as Lucite, Plexiglas, Bakelite, etc. If the trimming parts |5 and I6 are segments of the hinged frame members H and I2, the frame members themselves may be made of plastic materials as suggested. If plastics are used, the wires 20 and 2| would preferably bemolded into the plastic materials. and the burrs or serrations of the pins would be gripped andheld firmly within the structures. However, plastics are not required for the practice of the invention, other materials bein suitable for handbag usage.

The latch member 22 may be positioned at the top of the handbag fordecorative purposes and may extend for any desired length of the frame members. The pins 20 and 2| may be placed anywhere along the frame members and the latch member 22, the pins being anchored in the metal or plastic combinations or in any combinations of materials used in the locking structure. vIf only one pin, such as 25, is usedin the locking structure, it would be preferable to provide any well known means. toguide the latch member 22 with respect to the part |5 of the frame structure to facilitate the opening and closing of the handbag.

Figures 6, '7 and 8 show the locking structure of this invention applied to a ladys compact. Here the base 40 and cover 4| are hinged at 42. The latch member43 is, permanently affixed to the base 40 by means of two resilient pins or wires 44 and 45 of the type already described in regard to the handbag construction of Figures 1-4. The bolt 46is threaded into the cove 4| and the head of the bolt is insertable into a cavity 41 provided within the latch member 43. The latch member 43 may be tilted by the application of pressure at 48 and thereby cause the pins 44 and 45 to be bent outjof alignment. This will allow the head of bolt 46 to be removed from the cavity 41, Th

scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1.. A locking structure for ladies handbags or the like, comprising two frame members one of which is immovable, a latch member which may overlie both frame members, a burred linear pin of resilient material imbedded in and permanently fastening the latch member to the immovable frame member, said pin being deflected to nonlinearity when pressure isapplied to the latch member and restored to linearity immediately after said pressure is removed.

2. A locking structure for ladies handbags or the like, comprising two frame members one of which is immovable, a latch member which may overlie both frame members when the handbag is closed, a serrated linear pin formed of piano wire part of which is permanently embedded in said immovable frame member and another part thereof imbedded in said latch member, said pin being deflected to anon-linear position in response topressure applied to the latch member and then restored to its linear position upon the removal of said pressure.

3. A locking structure for ladies handbags or the like, comprising two frame members one of which is immovable, a latch member which may overlie both frame members, a plurality of parallel pins of resilient material, the upper parts of which are permanently embedded in said latch member while their lower parts are permanently embedded in the immovable frame member, all of said pins being bent by equal amounts when pressure is applied to saidv latch member and then simultaneously restored to their straightened positions immediately upon the release of said pressure.

4. Locking structure for a handbag or'the like, comprising two frame members that are hinged to each other, a latch member overlying one of said frame members, two linear pins of resilient material, both of which are partially embedded in said latch member and also partially embedded in the frame member which the latch member overlies, and an element, a portion of which protrudes from the other frame member, said latch member having a cavity for receiving the protruding portion of said element, v

5. Locking structure for a handbag or the like. comp-risingtwo frame members that are hinged to each other, a latch member having a cavity, a substantially linear pin of resilient material, said pin being partially embedded in one of said frame members and partially embedded in said latch member, the other frame member carrying an element which may be inserted in the cavity of said latch member when the structure is to be locked, said pin being bent when pressure is applied to said latch member so that the portion of said pin embedded in the latch member is brought out of alignment with the portion of said pin embedded in said frame member, said pin being restored to its substantially linear form upon removal of pressure from said latch member.

' 6. In a locking structure for a handbag or the like, the combination of two frame members that are hinged to each other, a latch member for holding said frame members contiguous to each other, a plurality of linear pins of resilient material, and means for permanently binding equal portions of said pins to one of said frame members and for permanently binding similar, equal portions of said pins to said latch member, all of said pins being equally deflected upon the application of pressure to said latch member to displace said frame members angularly to each other when the handbag is to be opened, said pins being restored to their undeflected positions upon release of pressure upon said latch member.

7. A locking structure for ladies handbags or the like, comprising an immovable frame member, a movable frame member, a plurality of linear pins of resilient material, a part of each of which is permanently affixed to the immovable frame member, a latch member to which another part of said linear pins are permanently aflixed, said latch member being tiltable with respect to the immovable frame member when pressure is applied to said latch member, the respective portions of the pins in said immovable frame member and in said latch member being unaligned with each other when said latch member is tilted, each of said pins being restored into alignment immediately upon the release of pressure on said latch member.

8. A locking structure for ladies handbags or other enclosures, comprising two frame members one of which is immovable, a latch member overlying said frame members, means for hinging said latch member to the immovable frame member, said means comprising a plurality of straight resilient wires positioned parallel to each other and embedded in the immovable frame member to the extent of approximately one-half of their lengths and embedded in the latch members to the extent of approximately their other halves, and means engaged by the latch member for retaining the movable frame member unspaced from the immovable frame member so as to lock the handbag.

9. A locking structure for bags or other enclosures, comprising two frame members one of which is immovable, a latch member which may overlie said immovable frame member, a pin of resilient material molded into said latch member and said immovable frame member to permanently fasten said latch member to said immovable frame member, said pin being deflected to nonlinearity when pressure is applied to said latch member and then restored to its normal position immediately after said pressure is removed.

CHAS. W. HARDY. 

